The first sign of something different happening in 2008 occurred when commercial property shares on a number of stock markets that have been heading downwards consistently for the last few months showed temporary signs of reversal on January 14th. This occurred both in the United Kingdom and the United States, in spite of the latter still being swamped with the fallout from the sub-prime mortgage debacle.
The performance in the stock market came three days after a decision by the central bank in the United Kingdom (The Bank of England) to keep the base interest rate within the United Kingdom at 5.5%. This move was counterintuitive to the current states of the market and it also sparked severe criticism from various industries within the United Kingdom that were hoping for a cut in order to stimulate higher liquidity within the various markets and primarily within the housing market of that country.
Ross Walker, a spokesperson for the Royal Bank of Scotland, said that "Despite some evidence of a sharper-than-expected deterioration…overall data developments do not seem sufficient to force an earlier policy response."
This, combined with stock performance, indicates that a period of low performance might be coming to an end soon in the United Kingdom and by extension within Western Europe.
Across the pond within the United States, one of the biggest factors in a free market society has started to show itself. While the larger banks within the country are not touching deals because of their bad experiences from sub-prime mortgages, regional banks and other smaller banks have begun to pick up the slack and offer credit to people that can not get it from anywhere else.
All in all, it appears as if the credit crunch and the property market downturn of the west are slowly starting to correct themselves. While it will still take a long time before there is strength in those markets, occurrences like these are highly encouraging for the international property market and investors as a whole.